Football Season Guide

The Frisians are coming off an overall disappointing season, ending with a respectable 9th place, but in which they never gave the impression of being truly competitive for higher positions. Reached the playoffs, but were immediately eliminated by AZ. A season marked by too many ups and downs with an easily pierced defense (the fifth worst in the Eredivisie) and not very prolific attackers, Ion Nicolăescu was the top scorer with just 8 goals. Furthermore, they suffered the shame of being eliminated from the KNVB Beker by Quick Boys, an amateur team. They started on the bench with Robin van Persie, but, given the poor results, in the 24th round he was replaced by Henk Brugge. There have been many changes over the summer, starting with the bench where young Robin Veldman will sit, coming from experiences in England and Belgium, but making his debut as head coach in the Eredivisie. The attack has changed completely: Ion Nicolaescu, Dimitris Rallis, Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Chè Nunnely have left, while the Frenchman Maxence Rivera, the promising (but too often injured) Amourricho Van Axel-Dongen on loan from Ajax, Vaclav Sejk from Sparta Prague, and above all Dylan Vente, coming off an excellent season with PEC Zwolle where he scored 13 goals, have arrived. Other notable acquisitions included experienced midfielder Joris van Overeem and Greek left-back Vasilios Zagaritis. On the transfer front, the most painful was that of captain Mats Köhlert to Bröndby. Two other regular starters left Heerenveen: midfielder Amara Condè and goalkeeper Mickey van der Hart. The latter demonstrates the faith placed in Andries Noppert, who was heavily criticized last year and quickly found himself on the bench.